VMware Introduces Free VMware Server

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today introduced VMware Server, a free new entry-level hosted virtualization product for Linux and Windows servers. The product is available as a beta download at http://www.vmware.com/products/server/ .

"Virtualization and VMware have become mainstream in the past year, and many customers have deployed thousands of VMware server environments across their enterprises. With VMware Server, we are ensuring that every company interested in, considering or evaluating server virtualization for the first time has access to the industry-leading virtualization technology," said Diane Greene, VMware President. "VMware Server makes it easy and compelling for companies new to virtualization to take the first step toward enterprise-wide virtual infrastructure."

VMware Server, the successor to VMware GSX Server, enables users to quickly provision new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines, bringing the powerful benefits of virtualization to every server. VMware Server is feature-packed with the following market-leading

capabilities:

-- Support for any standard x86 hardware

-- Support for a wide variety of Linux and Windows host operating systems,

including 64-bit operating systems

-- Support for a wide variety of Linux, NetWare, Solaris x86 and Windows

guest operating systems, including 64-bit operating systems

-- Support for Virtual SMP, enabling a single virtual machine to span

multiple physical processors

-- Quick and easy, wizard-driven installation similar to any desktop

software

-- Quick and easy virtual machine creation with a virtual machine wizard

-- Virtual machine monitoring and management with an intuitive, user

friendly remote console VMware Server is the first commercially available server virtualization product with support for 64-bit virtual machines and Intel Virtualization Technology, a set of Intel hardware platform enhancements specifically designed to enhance virtualization solutions.

"Central Transport has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars with jVMware virtual infrastructure," said Craig Liess, server administrator for Central Transport. "Introducing a new server virtualization product including Virtual SMP and support for 64-bit operating systems and Intel Virtualization Technology is a natural progression for VMware, furthering the company's leadership in the market. Offering VMware Server for free will bring VMware's proven virtualization technology to a wider audience, allowing companies to achieve the benefits of virtualization, such as cost reductions and flexible server provisioning." Accelerating Mainstream Adoption of Virtualization

By making virtualization technology available broadly and freely, first in the form of VMware Player which was made generally available in December 2005 and has more than one million installs and now in the form of VMware Server, VMware is providing the opportunity for users to experience the benefits of virtualization firsthand and for companies to broaden usage of virtualization to all corners of their enterprises.

"In 2005 virtualization decidedly moved in the mainstream, with an ever-increasing number of companies using server virtualization in production," said Gordon Haff, senior analyst, Illuminata. "VMware's strategic move to offer a free entry-level server virtualization product will help keep VMware out ahead of other x86 virtualization players -- and accelerate the development of the market by exposing VMware virtual infrastructure to a much wider audience." Providing a Path to Enterprise-class Virtual Infrastructure

VMware Server is an ideal starting point for users seeking to familiarize themselves with the concept of virtualization before progressing onto the enterprise-class suite of VMware virtual infrastructure products that includes ESX Server with Virtual SMP and VirtualCenter with VMotion technology for large-scale production server consolidation, business continuity and enterprise hosted desktop solutions. The suite is used by more than 20,000 companies worldwide today with more than 90% running VMware virtual infrastructure in production server environments and 25% choosing to standardize their industry-standard systems on VMware. Intel and VMware to Launch Global Marketing Campaign

With the introduction of VMware Server, Intel and VMware are launching a global marketing campaign to educate users on the value of virtualization on Intel platforms and to drive broader adoption of virtualization.

"VMware Server on Intel-based systems will allow customers from big IT to SMB to experiment with virtualization, understand its benefits and realize the value of Intel technologies such as Multi Core and Intel Virtualization Technology," said Diane Bryant vice president, general manager, Intel Server Platforms Group. Broad Hardware OEM Partner Support

VMware's leading OEM hardware partners welcome the introduction of VMware Server.

"Virtualization is a key enabling technology for our customers as they use scale out architectures for data center deployments," said Paul Gottsegen, vice president, Dell product group. "VMware Server is a great opportunity for our customer base to easily evaluate how the benefits of virtualization can help improve their server utilization rates."

"Virtualization is a core tenet of Fujitsu Siemens Computers Dynamic Dater Center strategy," said Dieter Herzog, senior vice president, Enterprise Servers, Fujitsu Siemens Computers. "To help our customers accelerate the adoption of virtualization and make their data centers more agile, effective and flexible, we have partnered with VMware to distribute VMware Server to our global customer base."

"HP's approach to virtualization is designed to help customers maximize their IT investment while simultaneously reducing costs and increasing agility," said Paul Miller, vice president, marketing, Industry Standard Servers and BladeSystem, HP. "By adding the new VMware Server to our broad line of industry-standard ProLiant server platforms, management tools such as the ProLiant Essentials Virtualization Management Software and a wide portfolio of service offerings, customers can easily capitalize on the benefits of migrating to virtualized environments."

"IBM xSeries delivers innovative virtualization solutions by leveraging our strong partnership with VMware and our industry leading X3 Architecture and BladeCenter platforms," said Leo Suarez, vice president and Business Line Executive, xSeries at IBM. "The new VMware Server offering will enable more xSeries and BladeCenter customers to experience the benefits of virtualization and see the value that virtualization can bring to their environment" Availability The VMware Server beta is available for immediate download at http://www.vmware.com/products/server/ . The product is expected to be generally available later in the first half of 2006. Support and subscription services for VMware Server will be available for purchase upon general availability. About VMware, Inc.

VMware, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC), is the global leader in Virtual Infrastructure software for industry-standard systems. The world's largest companies use VMware solutions to simplify their IT, fully leverage their existing computing investments and respond faster to changing business demands. VMware is based in Palo Alto, California. For more information, visit http://www.vmware.com or call 650-475-5000. NOTE: VMware, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.